STUDY ABROAD | Eportfolio

UF in North Queensland - Sustaining Humans and their Environment

In the summer of 2017, I studied abroad in Australia as a part of the UF in North Queensland program. I took 6 credits of a course called Sustaining Humans and their Environment, and while there I learned a lot about the different ways in which tourism impacts the local economy and environment. I also learned a lot about ecotourism and how it can benefit local communities more so than other forms of tourism. We traveled to several different cities for the month we were there, never staying in the same place more than two or three nights. We were able to camp in the Outback, visit a number of major and minor cities as well as National Parks, and even got to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef. On the Great Barrier Reef, I worked with a conservation group and two other students to measure the density of different coral types along a transect and counted the number of individuals of each unique fish species to pass through a designated reef area in a given time period. This was done to analyze how the duration that has passed since a coral reef experienced a mass-bleaching event affects the types and number of fish species that populate that reef. We determined that, of the reefs which have experienced mass-bleaching events, those which had done so further in the past displayed a greater amount of biodiversity than those which had recently experienced them, but that these areas all experienced a greatly-reduced level of biodiversity compared to reefs that had not undergone any significant bleaching. This research was conducted through the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Eye on the Reef program. This experience was very unique to me in that I have never before spent so much time constantly traveling to new places, and it definitely kept me on my feet and never getting too comfortable in one place. I think that this was to our advantage as we were able to meet and interact with a number of different Australians, including researchers at universities, several ecotourism specialists, and even a group uof Aboriginals who were kind enough to host us in their village.

UF in Kenya - Field Ecology in Africa

In the summer of 2019, I travelled to Nanyuki, Kenya with Dr. Todd Palmer of the University of Florida for three weeks as a part of the UF in Kenya research and study abroad program. While there I earned 3 credits of Ecology in Africa, which went toward completion of my major, and 3 credits of Undergraduate Research in Ecology. I conducted a small group research project based on the relationship between the native Acacia drepanolobium trees and four species of ants which compete for dominance of each tree; the specific focus of my project was on the level of defensive benefit conferred to a tree by both its thorns and its resident ants. I conducted measurements of thorn length and frequency along branches while my fellow researchers took various measurements such as ant density and type, total new growth of the tree, and frequency of elephant grazings, giraffe branch stripping, and beetle scars. I then presented my findings at the Mpala Research Centre alongside my group partners. This experience gave me invaluable skills in interacting with other researchers and people in general who I share very little in common with, and gave me a much clearer idea of the day-to-day lives of people in other countries.

I wanted to include here a blog post which I wrote on one of my last days at the Mpala Research Centre in Nanyuki, Kenya. I think that it is a great example of the ways in which study abroad programs can positively impact a student's outlook on the world and international affairs.

August 5, 2019

I am currently in Laikipia County, Kenya on a study abroad program with the University of Florida. We are learning about ecology and staying at the river camp of the Mpala Research Centre. Here at the camp, we have a group of Kenyan police officers (called askari in Swahili) who protect our research group and accompany us on game drives and whenever we leave the camp. One of the guards is named Rafael, and I decided to ask him a few questions about his experiences here in Kenya and the differences in our cultures. He is a member of the Maasai tribe and his community is about 40 minutes northwest of camp, where he has a wife and two young daughters, aged 4 and 8-months. He is the oldest of eleven children, as his father has two wives. His mother has 6 children, five boys and one girl, and his father’s other wife has five children as well. He told me that many people in his culture practice polygamy, and that he wants to marry another wife in the future if he has enough money. When I asked him about his experiences as an askari, he told me that he has held his job for eight years and that he is happy to continue working as an askari for a few more years but does not want it to be a lifelong career. When I asked him why he felt that way, he told me that he wants to be able to spend more time in his community and with his family. He told me that many members of the Maasai choose to remain in their community their entire lives and work as pastoralists, raising cattle to sell in the market in exchange for crops and vegetables, but that working as an askari pays a lot better and will allow him to take better care of his family and have more children.

I asked him if anyone in his family grows their own crops, but he said that their community is much more focused on animal agriculture and simply trades their meat and milk for crops grown by other local communities. He told me that the Maasai eat a lot of meat and drink a lot of milk and blood, and I told him that I am vegan and would not be able to consume any of those things. He asked me how it is possible to avoid those kinds of foods and still have a healthy and balanced diet, and I told him about how it is much easier to have access to all different kinds of foods in the United States and how we can buy foods grown all around the country and the world. I asked him if he had ever met any vegetarian or vegan Kenyans, and he thought that was a very funny question. He said that vegetarianism would not be possible in his community, and that no one had ever really considered it as an option. He also said that if someone ever tried to practice a vegetarian diet, they would probably be shunned by their community because they would be seen as disrespecting their culture and traditions. He was not rude to me about my diet in any way however and seemed to respect the fact that our cultures are so different from one another.

Rafael was very curious about American culture and asked me lots of questions about the kinds of foods we eat, what kinds of jobs are present in the United States that are not found here in Kenya, and what we like to do for fun. He wanted to know about American sports and what kind of music I like to listen to. I asked him if members of his community got together and played music and he told me that while nobody he knew had any musical instruments, many people in his community come together and simply sing, clap their hands, and hit sticks or metal together to make rhythms. I asked him if he had ever left Kenya and he said that not many people he knows have traveled as it is usually too expensive, but that if he ever had enough money he would one day like to travel to America. He told me that a friend of his did a research project on black panthers here at Mpala and received a grant to travel and is currently presenting his findings to a conference in New York City. He said his friend had sent him some pictures of the streets and tall buildings in New York, and he was blown away by what he had seen. He said he couldn’t believe how buildings could be so tall and all tightly packed so close to one another, and that he wanted to one day see New York with his own eyes.

This has been an incredibly humbling and eye-opening experience for me, and I hope that one day Rafael and his family will be able to come and experience my country as I have been so lucky to be able to see his.